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A Nazi-themed café that was shut following after international protest at its décor has re-opened — still bearing quotations and paintings of Adolf Hitler, and staff in Nazi uniforms.
Henry Mulyana voluntarily shut down his SoldatenKaffee last year after media reports exposed his swastika-clad establishment, prompting death threats and accusation of inciting racial hatred.
Following the closure, his lawyer told AFP that Henry would later reopen his business with a broader World War II theme and said he would remove all swastikas.
But at the opening on Saturday, three huge iron eagles bearing swastikas were on display, as were WWII propaganda posters bearing the Nazi symbol.
Several young men attended the opening dressed in military outfits, including one bearing a swastika on his arm, and some posed for photos as prisoners of war in a mock interrogation room.
“All aspects of the SoldatenKaffee are legal. We have a lot of customers from Europe and they don’t have a problem with the World War II theme, because it is seen here from a historical perspective,” Henry told reporters at the reopening.
That Henry is allowed to keep his cafe open sits in stark contrast to
attitudes in Europe, where several countries have criminalized promoting Nazi ideology and Holocaust denial.
The Jewish population in Indonesia is tiny, but historians have blamed poor schooling in the country for the lack of awareness and sensitivity of the Holocaust.
Agencies/AFP/Canadajournal
